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Show Dorothy Dix Talks j i; THE WIFE AND THE BUSINESS By DOROTHY DIX, the World's Highest Paid "Woman Writer I The question of how much a man should toll his wife nbout his business aTfalrs is one that must be settled individually, in-dividually, it depends upon the hus-hand, hus-hand, the wife, and the business. It Is one of the things for which there is no rule, and forty exceptions. Of course, off hand, it would seem that the logical and proper thing for the husband to do would be to make his wife his business confidant, and talk over with her all of the details of his affairs. To begin with she is his partner, as much interested in the prosperity of his store or his office a3 1 he Is. Women Too Ignorant of Hubby's Affairs.. In the cecond place if she knows just how her husband V business is grow- j ing she has a definite standard bv which to gauge her own expenditures. Undoubtedly the great majority, of J women who ruin their husbands by I their extravagance do it through ig-1 norancc anil not intent. They know : nothing of his business, and have no idea as to his income. ' Still another reason for a man tcll-i ing I1I3 wife all about his business affairs af-fairs Is that it gives them an unend-t ling topx for real heart to heart talks. I IThe main trouble with domesticity is1 ! I . ilhat after a couple have got done bill-; bill-; ing and cooing they havo nothing to say to each other. Cut any man can talk shop until the cows come home, and If he finds in his wife a sympathetic sympa-thetic and lnterosted listener who is just as much thrilled over a good pur-j pur-j chase of salt cod fish or a real estate deal as he is, why, they have got that i which makes them fascinatingly interesting inter-esting to each other to the end of time. Success Born at Fireside. Moreover, in such conversations success suc-cess is often born. In thrashing out a problem with his wife in the quiet J hours at home a man often gels his j big idea that leads him on to fortune land fame. or. it may be, as it often is, I that some intuition or his wife clears an obscure point to him, and it is cer- tain that her Intorest, her belief in ihini, her enthusiasm fan the fires of jlns own ambition and keep him tuned up to fighting pitch, j And, at the last, if the man dies, it Js indisputable that the wife who has j known all about her husband's business busi-ness affairs is in a better position to look after her own and her children's interests than is tho woman who has never been toid a thing about her husband's hus-band's affairs, and to whom all business busi-ness is a mystery as insoluble as the riddle of the sphynx. The one can go on if necessary with the business, the other is at the mercy of her husband's trustees, and only too often is cheated out of everything she has. The lodc of the situation seems to indicate that a husband should freely discuss all of his business affairs with his wife, but in deciding matrimonial problems you have to take the personal per-sonal equation into consideration, and as Mr. Perlmutter would wisely observe, ob-serve, "that's another thing altogether yet, Mawruss." Women With Hollow Heads. There are women who have a hollow in their heads where the bump of busi- ness sense should b woinon who never nev-er can be taught which is the business end of a check, and who believe to the end of time that the way to judge of a stock, or a bond, is by tho thickness of the paper and the ornaments of the script in which tho certificate is printed. print-ed. Also there arc women who arc leaky sieves who can no more keep ' from repeating everything they are ' told than a brook can keep from bab- ' bling. ! It is folly for a man married to a woman of cither of these types to talk to his wife about his business affairs. The best that he can do is to work out ' his problems alone, and tie up his estate es-tate in trust for her In case of his death. . Man With Client's Secrets. The:i there is the professional man whose secrets are not his own secrets but his client's. He has no right to talk over his business with his wife, and she has no right to even seek to know the problems he may b- pondering ponder-ing in his mind. This is hard lines on the women, and it makes the lives of the wives of doctors and lawyers a martyrdom of baffled curiosity, but it is the price of success. In deciding the question of whether a man should tell his wife nil about his business affairs the main point to consider is the man's own attitude towards to-wards it. If It Js a Tcllef to the man to free his overburdened mind of its load of cares by dividing it with his wife, well and good. I-.ot him talk out J his worries as a woman weeps out hers. He will be tho better, and sleep the sounder for it. But all men do not feel that way I know one brilliant and successful, busi- ness man married to a lovely and sympathetic sym-pathetic wife, who never mentions his business to her. Indeed, his business is a taboo subject in his home. Locks Trouble In His Deck. "I give the very best that is in me every day to my work," he says, "I concentrate every particle- of intelli-Igence intelli-Igence I've got on the problems I have jto solve, but when I shut down my jdesk at night I lock them up In It, and I try not to think of them again until the next day. I want to give my mind that much lime to clear, so that I come back with a fresh viewpoint to them. If, when I go home, I have to go over vith my wife every detail, recalling re-calling every annoyance, reviving the memory of every unpleasant thing that has happened, I get myself so worked up that I don't sleep, and I am unfitted unfit-ted to take tip the burden next dify. "I want my home to be a place of rest, relaxation, change not an annex jto the shop." p And there you are. And each man I must decide the question according to I his own temperament. |